Where is the outrage over the Winkie Irvine case?

By Chris Donnelly (for the Irish News)

The exceptional story of the arrest, treatment and sentencing of Winston ‘Winkie’ Irvine warrants considerably greater attention and protest than has so far been the case.

The leading loyalist received what can only be described as a remarkably lenient sentence after pleading guilty to firearms offences.

He had been stopped and found to be in possession of guns and ammunition after having been observed meeting with another leading loyalist and receiving a bag that was placed in the boot of his car.

In spite of both individuals being widely known as prominent loyalist figures, and the incident taking place amidst a ratcheting up of loyalist paramilitary threats and activity, a decision was taken against bringing terrorist charges that would almost certainly have led to a harsher sentence for both individuals.

Analysing this case, in the context within which the arrests took place, is very important and revelatory in ways that should not be ignored.

Join the Irish News Whatsapp channel In March 2022, the UVF determined that it wanted to send a warning to the Irish government to signal it retained the capacity to inflict violence and cause death and destruction.

Its message was delivered in the form of a hoax bomb placed in a van its members hijacked and sent into the grounds of Holy Cross Church in Ardoyne, where the then Irish Foreign Minister, Simon Coveney, was delivering a speech.

Coveney’s security team ushered him off the stage when they became aware of what was happening, whilst mourners attending a funeral in the church suffered the distress of having the Mass abandoned due to the threat.

Simon Coveney was the target of a UVF bomb hoax in March Simon Coveney was the target of a UVF bomb hoax in north Belfast The Ardoyne-Shankill interface is the most sensitive of all across the north, as evidenced by the shocking Holy Cross Girls’ school protest and Twaddell camp and parade campaign, so this in itself was a deeply provocative and potentially destabilising act.

The previous year, the stooge front organisation for loyalist paramilitaries, the Loyalist Communities Council, had issued a statement withdrawing support for the Good Friday Agreement.

A further statement, issued in October 2022 in the name of David Campbell on behalf of the LCC, saw the group set out a list of demands outlining what was required “in order to preserve the peace and political stability that we have all come to enjoy post 1998”.

Along with the wish-list came a further demand that Irish government figures not visit the north whilst the protocol remained in place and a threat of “dire consequences” and “an unprecedented reaction” if the British government failed to unequivocally rule out joint authority.

Around this time, it was also being reported that loyalist paramilitaries called off an attack on an Irish government target in the south only after the Northern Ireland Office publicly confirmed that there had not been any plans for joint authority in the absence of a political deal being reached – this being a period in which Stormont remained suspended.

It should have been a cause for great alarm that the PSNI believed it to be appropriate to send officers to attend an event organised by Irvine whilst he was on bail facing the gun charges.

A handgun and ammo were found in Winston Irvine’s car A handgun and ammo were found in Winston Irvine’s car There is no conceivable scenario within which a leading dissident republican figure today would find himself serving such an extraordinarily lenient sentence after pleading guilty to the same charge, never mind receiving a positive RSVP reply from the PSNI to an event of which he was the host.

This is a problem requiring a sustained political focus to finally address in a way that can develop community confidence – and, as illustrated by this paper’s front page lead story last Friday, the absence of confidence in policing amongst nationalists is self-evident and leading to a dwindling number of Catholic recruits to the PSNI.

The exceptional status of loyalism is a recurring theme within Irish history. For centuries, the interests of the British state aligned with those of its favoured loyalist population in Ireland, apparent in the manner in which loyalism was armed, directed and facilitated by British forces and the state up to and including the most recent conflict in the late twentieth century.

The Good Friday Agreement was supposed to change all of that, and it is disturbing that nationalist and republican leaders have remained rather muted in their response to how the Winkie Irvine case has unfolded.

‘What do you expect?’ is not an acceptable response from parties firmly wedded to the post-98 institutions, operating a power-sharing executive responsible for policing and justice.

What we are continuing to see is militant loyalism seeking to keep its powder dry throughout a period of relative peace in the hope and expectation that such a state of existence can facilitate a quicker and more effective mobilisation in the event of a border poll being called, when the threat of impending loyalist violence can be utilised to impact upon the poll results.

In the meantime, the threat of violence continues to cast a shadow over society and shape our politics, emboldening those fanning the flames of division and constituting a suffocating presence in working class communities.

The conduct of loyalist paramilitaries throughout the vexed protocol discussions, including the incident for which Winston Irvine and his associate pleaded guilty, should have been an occasion for the authorities to send a clear message that the toxic paramilitary culture would no longer be indulged.

Instead, we are left with a situation where the actions of the criminal justice system and police are being questioned by many citizens in this divided society.

More than a quarter century on from our peace accord, it should not be this way.

Urgent Appeal